Jump off the bandwagon!
Run for your lives!
Take the children to New Orleans for a rousing day at the zoo on LSU gameday, or bring the family on a fall foliage tour in our neighboring states of the south.
The Tiger football squad might as well pack up shop and cheer for the crashing Green Wave of Tulane as they qualify for a bowl game.
Quarterback Marcus Randall ought to help his brother coach at Southern Lab rather than lead the Tigers down the toilet.
Wait. Hold up a minute.
Do you really want to take the kids to see a gorilla put its finger by its nose and fall out of a tree?
Or go look at a bunch dying leaves falling from a tree in Nowheresville, Miss. on game day?
I would think not.
Or cheer for the Green Wave as they mow down perennial powerhouses such as Southern or Navy?
Sure. That would be about as cool as Emeril shooting another sitcom pilot entitled “Another Notch With Mushrooms: They’re Bamtastic.”
Now will Randall take the No. 15 Tigers into the toilet? Well by the sounds of the call-in shows and the buzz on campus, one would think the LSU football players ought to call it quits.
Many around the University community must suffer from the condition “Convenientus Memoryitis.”
I certainly remember Joe Blow LSU fan shouting for injured quarterback Matt Mauck’s head after the disastrous numbers against Virginia Tech.
They wanted his cranium on a platter after his dreadful passing display in a winning effort against Mississippi State.
Then LSU fair-weather fans placed Mauck on the highest totem pole after submerging the Florida Gators in “The Swamp.”
Randall entered his first start against South Carolina and replaced Mauck on that totem pole as the idol of the Tiger faithful.
Then one road game and one loss later and the uproar begins.
Randall played less than par for the course against Auburn. Yes he tossed four passes to the white helmet Tigers and showed immaturity through much of the 31-7 loss to the mascot with an identity crisis.
Oh yeah, one more thing. It was only his second start of his career in a hostile environment in the drizzle. That doesn’t make up for poor decisions, but you can’t expect Randall to come in and be Michael Vick or Donovan McNabb or even Rohan Davey. It just doesn’t happen.
The coaching staff held onto Randall’s reins by not allowing him to build his confidence with bubble screens to Michael Clayton or someone from the backfield. The coaching staff continued to run the ball in the second half even as Auburn’s lead increased.
Unfair expectations were set from the get-go for Randall and Mauck.
With injuries to Mauck, running back LaBrandon Toefield and the removal of free safety Damien James, you can’t expect a team that didn’t have all the answers from the start of the season, then lost more pieces to the puzzle as the season progressed, to bounce back like nothing happened.
If LSU finishes the season 8-4 and travels to a New Year’s Day bowl game, the Baton Rouge faithful ought to count their blessings. Two seasons ago, everyone in town celebrated with glee over the Peach Bowl win.
It’s time for take two.